Professor of Psychology
Social, Cognition & Perception

Research

My research concerns the question of how goals and plans affect cognition and behavior. It spans a number of areas in social psychology, cognition and perception, neuropsychology, and industrial and organizational psychology.

Four different theoretical concepts stimulate this research:

1) Mind-sets

Deliberating which goals to pursue versus planning the implementation of set goals leads to different cognitive orientations (i.e., deliberative and implemental mind-sets, respectively). We observed that the deliberative mind-set leads to an accurate and impartial analysis of information that speaks to the feasibility and desirability of possible goals, whereas the implemental mind-set promotes an optimistic and partial analysis of such information. Moreover, the deliberative mind-set is associated with open-mindedness, whereas the implemental is characterized by closed-mindedness.

We are currently investigating how deliberative and implemental mind-sets differentially affect illusionary optimism and people’s search for information that is consistent with ongoing self-views. Moreover, implicit ways of activating deliberative and implemental mind-sets are explored.

2) Implementation Intentions

People can delegate the initiation of goal-directed behavior to environmental stimuli by forming so-called implementation intentions (If situation x is encountered, I will perform behavior y!). We observed that forming implementation intentions facilitates detecting, attending to, and recalling the critical situation. Moreover, in the presence of the critical situation the initiation of the specified goal-directed behavior is immediate, efficient, and does not need a conscious intent.

We are currently investigating whether forming implementation intentions can be used as an effective self-regulatory tool when it comes to resisting temptations, avoiding to stereotype members of an out-group, blocking unwanted goal pursuits triggered outside the person’s awareness or unwanted implicit perception-behavior effects. Moreover, it is analyzed how efficiently action control via implementation intentions saves a person’s self-regulatory resources. We also ask whether implementation intentions protect a person’s thoughts and actions from unwanted influences of self-states (such as a good or bad mood, self-definitional incompleteness, feelings of anger or sadness) once the critical situation is encountered.

Finally, we study whether and how implementation intentions help people meet their health goals (e.g., exercising more, eating less, taking pills regularly), whether people who are known to have problems with action control also benefit from implementation intentions (e.g., frontal lobe patients, schizophrenics), and whether forming implementation intentions alleviates negative framing effects in negotiations between opposing parties.

3) Self-defining Goals

Committing oneself to a self-defining goal (e.g., becoming a good lawyer, mother, scientist) instigates an enduring striving towards possessing the desired outcome. We currently explore how self-defining goals of behaving in an egalitarian manner towards members of an out-group affect the activation of respective stereotypes, and whether effective suppression of stereotypes via such goals is void of rebound effects (i.e., subsequent stereotype activation).

4) Nonconscious Goal Pursuits

In a recent line of research we explore (in collaboration with John Bargh) whether and how conscious goal pursuits differs from nonconscious goal pursuits. First, various problems of action control that demand flexibility rather than rigidity are identified and it is analyzed whether nonconscious goal pursuits are equally effective in solving these problems as conscious goal pursuits. Second, various cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences of goal conflicts are identified and it is analyzed whether these can be observed for conscious and nonconscious goal pursuits alike. Third, we explore whether there is a dissociation between the variables that determine a strong feeling of intending to reach a goal and the variables that predict successful goal attainment.

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Biography

Positions

Awards and Honors

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Selected Publications

Gollwitzer, P.M., Bayer, U., McCullouch, K. (2005). The control of the unwanted. In R. Hassin, J. Uleman, & J.A. Bargh (Eds.), The new unconscious (pp. 485-515). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gollwitzer, P.M., Fujita, K., & Oettingen, G. (2004). Planning and the implementation of goals. In   R.F. Baumeister & K.D. Vohs (Eds.) Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory and applications (pp.211-228). New York: Guilford Press.

Kawada, C., Oettingen, G., Gollwitzer, P.M., & Bargh, J.A. (2004). The projection of implicit and explicit goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 545-559.

Aarts, H., Gollwitzer, P.M., & Hassin, R. (2004). Goal contagion: Perceiving is for pursuing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 23-37.

Gollwitzer, P.M. (2003). Why we thought the action mindsets affect illusions of control. Psychological Inquiry, 14, 259-267.

Lengfelder, A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2001). Reflective and reflexive action control in frontal lobe patients. Neuropsychology, 15, 80-100.

Brandstaetter, V., Lengfelder, A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2001). Implementation intentions and efficient action initiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 946-960.

Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., Chai, A. L., Barndollar, K., & Troetschel, R. (2001). Automated will: Nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1014-1027.

Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54, 493-503.

Moskowitz, G. B., Gollwitzer, P. M., Wasel, W., & Schaal, B. (1999). Preconscious control of stereotype activation through chronic egalitarian goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 167-184.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Bayer, U. (1999). Deliberative versus implemental mindsets in the control of action. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 403-422). New York: Guilford.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Rohloff, U. B. (1999). The speed of goal pursuit. In R. S. Wyer (Ed.), Advances in Social Cognition (Vol. 12, pp. 147-159). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Kirchhof, O. (1998). The willful pursuit of identity. In J. Heckhausen & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Life-span perspectives on motivation and control (pp. 389-423). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Schaal, B. (1998). Metacognition in action: The importance of implementation intentions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2, 124-136.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Oettingen, G. (1998). The emergence and implementation of health goals. Psychology and Health, 13, 687-715.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstaetter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 186-199.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Bargh, J. A. (Eds.) (1996). The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior. New York: Guilford Press.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Moskowitz, G. B.(1996). Goal effects on action and cognition. In E.T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles. (pp. 361-399) New York: Guilford Press.

Brunstein, J. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1996). Effects of failure on subsequent performance: The importance of self-defining goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 395-407.

Taylor, S. E., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1995). Effects of mindset on positive illusions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 213-226.

Gollwitzer, P. M. (1993). Goal achievement: The role of intentions. European Review of Social Psychology, 4, 141-185.

Gollwitzer, P. M. (1990). Action phases and mind-sets. In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), The handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 53-92). New York: Guilford Press.

Gollwitzer, P. M., Heckhausen, H., & Steller, B. (1990). Deliberative vs. implemental mind-sets: Cognitive tuning toward congruous thoughts and information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1119-1127.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Kinney, R. F. (1989). Effects of deliberative and implemental mind-sets on the illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 531-542.

Gollwitzer, P. M. (1986). Striving for specific identities: The social reality of self-symbolizing. In R. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 143-159). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Wicklund, R. A. (1985). Self-symbolizing and the neglect of others' perspectives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 702-715.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Wicklund, R. A. (1985). The pursuit of self-defining goals. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Action control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 61-85). Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

Wicklund, R. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1982). Symbolic self-completion. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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Address

Department of Psychology
New York University
6 Washington Place, Room 781
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 998-7875
Fax: (212) 995-4966
Email: peter.gollwitzer@nyu.edu

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Updated